When morning eventually dawned the first light revealed an island suffering from the effects of storm damage in fallen trees and the forlorn remains of their first shelter. It shone also on the stiff figures emerging from the remaining shelter to stretch themselves. The rain had ceased, at last, and the wind had died down to a stiff breeze.
Everyone was tired and prone to snap. Ruth found herself longing unbearably for a cup of tea, but there was no tea left. Anyway, the fire had gone out during the storm and despite Alex's earlier warning, they had not kept any wood dry. They only had a limited supply of matches and after one had been wasted trying to light damp kindling Nick decided there was no point trying again until things had dried out a bit.
For a while everyone stood around looking dejected. Ruth wandered off towards the ocean. The waves were still bigger than normal in the aftermath of the storm, and she kept well away from the water's edge. She found the place where she and Rachel had fished for crabs. The rock pools were still there, but the crabs had gone. She guessed that they had sensed the storm coming and made for somewhere safer, probably deeper under the sea, until it was over. Presumably they would come back. But until then there would be no more crab meat.
She headed back towards the camp with this news. By now the sun had risen and with a steady breeze still blowing the island was beginning to dry out. She got back to camp to find Tom and Rachel laying out small bits of wood to dry in the sun. "Once the fire's well alight, it won't matter if the bigger bits are still damp," Alex said, bringing another armful.
"It'll make the fire smoke more," Ruth said. "But that's good, it'll make it more visible."
Nick and some of the others were trying to repair the shelter which which had collapsed. With several trees in the forest having been brought down by the storm, finding building materials was not hard. But this time the building would need to be more solid. There was no guarantee that last night's storm was a one-off.
Ruth told Alex about the crabs. "I think we're going to have to try and set traps for animals," he said. "The sea's too dangerous to try and fish at the moment, and a lot of the fruits and berries were blown down and squashed last night. And they wouldn't last forever, anyway- we need to vary our food sources as much as possible."
Rachel looked worried. "What about the vegetarians?"
"They've coped so far," Ruth said. "It'll be all right." But she sounded more sure than she felt.
She and Rachel helped Alex dig pits in the forest, not very wide in diameter but deep, which they then covered with sticks and leaves so that hopefully small animals would fall into them. He also set some snares using rope.
"We'll have to leave them overnight and see if we catch anything," he said.
Ruth wasn't too sure how she felt about this. She was usually quite happy to eat meat, and wasn't squeamish about thinking where it came from, but she had never had to hunt and kill it before. Given their situation, it seemed the sensible thing to do. And yet- she wasn't entirely sure that she would be able to kill anything. Probably she would- but she was not certain.
"Well," she thought, "I'll find out soon, I suppose."
The forest looked different to the day before. Ruth wondered if it was just that the storm had stirred things up and brought down a few trees, or if she hadn't been to this part of the island before. She felt a bit disorientated, and tried to work out where she was on the mental map in her head. She wasn't very successful.
They collected some coconuts from a fallen tree. Rachel pulled a face. "I don't really like coconut," she said. "I know some of the others don't either."
"I do," replied Ruth. "I'll eat them for you! I haven't had coconut in years, except in sweets."
"You might have to get to like them," Alex said. "If there's nothing else."
They carried on. Suddenly they heard the terrible screeching noise that had haunted them all at nights since they arrived on the island. It seemed to be coming from directly ahead of them. They stopped short, and looked around, startled and slightly afraid. Then another screech came from off to their right, and another answered from almost behind them.
"We're surrounded!" Rachel whispered.
"But what by?" Alex said. He took a few steps forward. The girls followed.
Directly ahead of them a tree suddenly shook and a large dark shape dropped from a branch to the branch of another tree. They followed it with their eyes as it bounded from tree to tree.
"It's a monkey!" Rachel exclaimed as it disappeared among the leaves.
"There's another," Ruth said, as another browny-black shape detached itself from the tree where it had been sleeping and swung away into the forest."
"They must be a sort that sleep during the day and come out at night. We must have disturbed them," Rachel said. "Aren't they amazing?"
"So that's what's been making the noise," Ruth said. "Well, I'm glad we've found out."
The story continues...
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